Skin temperature is commonly considered as the primary quantitative indicator of thermal sensation and thermal comfort. However, the patterns of variation in local skin temperature under different environmental conditions and corresponding thermal sensations remain unclear. In this study, at an indoor air temperature of 22.7 ℃, cool, neutral, and warm conditions were created by changing the subjects’ clothing insulation to 0.53 clo, 0.83 clo, and 2.53 clo, respectively. The local skin temperatures of 15 body sites were measured in 20 subjects, and their thermal sensations were inquired. The results showed that as the environmental condition changed from cool to warm, the local skin temperatures increased for most body parts. However, the temperatures of the forehead and instep rose from cool to neutral (2.1 ℃ and 1.94 ℃, respectively), but remained almost constant from neutral to warm (−0.03 ℃ and −0.02 ℃, respectively). The core body regions (e.g., chest and abdomen) were always warmer than the limbs. When thermal sensation vote (TSV) changed from − 2 to 2, the lower arm (3.87 ℃) and the upper arm (3.43 ℃) exhibited the largest temperature variation, while the temperatures of the forehead, abdomen, and thighs remained relatively stable. Meanwhile, the local skin temperatures at the lower arm (0.761), scapular (0.618), and wrist (0.600) had high correlations with TSV. This study helps to enhance the understanding of the interactions between surface temperatures of different body parts and the thermal environment, and provide reference for the selection of skin temperature measurement sites in thermal sensation prediction.